Krista Sypher case: Jason Sypher arraignment scheduled for early October

The Plover Police chief said this week that finding out what happened to Krista Sypher is a priority for his department. Sypher was reported missing on March 20, 2017, by her husband.

Wochit

STEVENS POINT - A local missing-person turned murder case will move forward in the Portage County court system.

Jason Sypher, 44, was arrested Aug. 24 in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Krista Sypher. He was apprehended near the Wisconsin-Illinois border and charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse, although Krista Sypher's body has not been found.

Jason Sypher reported his 44-year-old wife missing on March 20, 2017, one week after she was last seen. In the year and a half since her disappearance, police gradually built a case against Jason Sypher.

Kryshak argued Monday that there was not enough probable cause and a lack of physical evidence in the case. He requested Jason Sypher's bond be reduced to $50,000. However, Judge Eagon decided to keep it at the previously assigned amount of $750,000.

According to the complaint, Jason Sypher bought large, black trash bags the day Krista Sypher was last seen, something, police say, he didn't disclose to law enforcement. His fingerprints were also found on a shopping bag that contained his wife's damaged cellphone, which had been discarded in a public dumpster, according to the complaint.

Police used GPS records to trace the steps of Jason Sypher in the days after his wife's disappearance. They found his car had stopped at the dumpster in which his wife's phone was found. Jason Sypher told investigators he stopped at a gas station that day to "throw some trash out," according to the criminal complaint.

GPS records also show his car had driven past the Portage County Solid Waste Transfer Facility twice in two days. Police also note that on March 16, 2017 he stopped at dumpsters near Wilson Avenue for approximately eight seconds, which "could allow the defendant enough time to exit the vehicle and look into the dumpster or discard evidence," according to the criminal complaint.

Police noted in the complaint that the dumpsters near Wilson Avenue are emptied by Waste Management Disposal services and then taken to the Mosinee Transfer Facility. Records show the dumpsters were emptied on March 13 at 2:05 p.m. and March 20 at 2:27 p.m. When police observed video footage of the trucks emptying their loads, a long, black plastic bag "consistent with the size of a human body" was seen falling to the floor at 3:49 p.m. on March 20, 2017, according to the criminal complaint.